A Reborn Nation
by weather7
Summary: Hundreds of years after the war against the fire nation; the world is still filled with danger. With the avatar in a coma, new and corrupt authority has taken control of the world. I will take down the corrupt leaders and instill peace into the world.
1. Chapter 1

**Today (Day 1)**

_I woke up it the midst of the night. I knew I had lost the fight but I had lost more than just the fight, I had lost my house and more importantly, my sister. _

**5 Years Ago**

_We were living 500 years after the end of the war. Peace was lasting in our nation, or so we thought. When I was 10 years old, meteors came to every part of the world and impacted every nation. Several benders of each nations tried 2 reduce the damage of this natural disaster, however many of them lost their lives, including my own parents. At age 10, I was living with the Southern water tribes with my parents and my sister. We were just beginning to be taught waterbending, and we were going to catch fish with it. As soon as my dad began to show me how to catch a fish, a meteor crushed his entire body. My mother called for the other tribesmen to help us free him but when we called for them, many meteors continued to fall. My mother tried to free him but by the time she did, he was already dead. All the water benders were called to reduce the damage from the meteors and prevent them from causing too much damage, but the meteors kept coming. While my mother was our igloo gathering our tools to evacuate, a meteor smashed into the igloo and killed her._

**The Next Day**

_Word had spread to every nation of the meteors impact on every nation. We received word from a messenger hawk that the avatar was in a coma. The meteors had knocked him out while he continued to protect the eastern air temple as it was still a small nation although the war had ended long ago. Only 1 air bender survived other than the avatar, and then nation would disappear if they died. My sister, Susan, was what was left of my family in the Southern water tribe. She was 9 years old, young and still naïve. She had black hair and wore the water tribe coat with the water tribe's insignia. She showed me the new messages being sent out to every nation. As I read it she gathered what we had left: our clothing and the little food that remained. On the message I read, "To all nations: because of the current condition of the avatar, there is no one person to keep balance in the world. Therefore, we are requesting the formation of a group of leaders of every nation's survivors. This group would maintain balance in the world until the avatar awakens. Signed: Fire Lord Vrym. This formation of eventually became the Council of Nations. The leaders of the Water, Earth, and Fire nations and the last remaining air bender. This council began to send out benders from each nation to help out with the damage from the meteors. They eventually had a group of earth benders make a refugee island off the coast of the Northern water tribes. Rebirth isle is where Susan and I came to live our next 5 years, until that day._

**Yesterday (Day 0)**

"Kai wake up!"

"….." I continued to pretend as if I wasn't woken up.

"Wake up Kai; you have to come see what the messenger hawk brought!"

"Fine, fine… I'm awake." I said

_It had been 5 years later, and I now lived on Rebirth isle. I am Kai Winters. I had lived in a small cabin in the rainforest with my sister these 5 years. I had black_ _short hair, wore a black shirt with the water tribe insignia on it, black pants and carried a pocket full of marbles filled with water. They were used as weapons, but as for how, I'll tell more on later. I went to our small wooden table in the center of our cabin and began to read the message we received. We received a message everyday, as the messenger hawks gave us the news from each nation. It read, "Council of Nations buys out Rebirth isle. The Council has taken the island under their own ownership to create more facilities for jobs. They will begin to-"_

"This is a load if shit!" I said, "They're not trying to create more jobs, they're going to just figure out a way to make more money!"

"I know that Kai" Susan said, "but there isn't much we can do. The council has 4 powerful benders to terrorize our people and there aren't too many bold enough to take them on."

"I know… that's why we've been training to take them down one day"

"But that day is not today" Susan said, "We have to be patient"

_I went out that afternoon to fish for food. Although my parents never had the chance to teach us, I taught myself to bend the fish out of water. I brought a bucket of fish back to our cabin, and that's where things went downhill. I walked towards the cabin to see Susan and 2 other people arguing outside our cabin. I moved closer and began to speak._

"What's going on here?" I said.

"We have a warrant for the demolition of this cabin here and for all those who interfere; we have full rights to use force to do our job."

A woman said this. She was wearing a white shirt and pants. In the center of the shirt there was an insignia; a square with the insignia of the 4 nations inside.

"And just who are you?" I said.

"We are members of the Council of nation's protection squads. Now move aside"

_The man said this; he wore the same clothing as the woman, but however looked much more serious._

"Well, since you both are here to protect us, why are you trying to destroy our home?!" Susan said.

"I won't say this again" the man said, "Move now!"

"Make us!" Susan said.

_With that, the woman shot fire balls at the both of us._

"Watch out Susan!"

_She moved away and shot a wave of water at the man._

_Before the water had hit her, the man pulled up large earthen wall in front of her._

_He sent that wall towards us but we both moved away from it._

_I threw the water marbles in my pocket at both the man and woman and as they hit them, they were covered in water. I bent the water into ice and turned them into icicles._

"I think it's over Susan…"

"Yeah"

_As we turned to go into our cabin, the icicle began to melt as the woman burned it up._

"you didn't honestly think it'd be this easy, did you?"

_She began to send waves of fire at us one after the other._

_Susan and I began to pull the water from the plants around us and made a wall of water._

_As the fire and water evaporated, the man sent a large stone at me._

_It hit me and knocked me into the side of my house, knocked out cold._

**Today (Day 1)**

_I woke up it the midst of the night. I knew I had lost the fight but I had lost more than just the fight, I had lost my house and more importantly, my sister. The house was no longer there, just ashes from the wood were left. As I looked, I saw my sister Susan with burn marks across her chest. I was going to heal her, but as I touched her arm, I couldn't find a pulse._


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: **Thank you for your review Mastakirby. Updating very early because I don't want to lose these ideas from my mind.

**Today (Day 1)**

_I buried her in front of what was once our home. I could barely hold back my tears, as I had lost the last person I had dear to me. I was angry: with myself, with the benders who killed her, and with the world. I began to walk through the forest as it raindrops fell on my head. It was a quiet and gloomy night. Only the sound of rain filled my ears as I now walked, alone. I was upset and wanted vengeance for my sister. I wanted to destroy this council of nations, and restore balance as it was before the meteor shower. I knew I had to be rid of this council, but I knew I could not do it alone. I used the rain around me to make a small dome of ice. I lie on the bare ground, deciding my next course of action. I would head to the marketplace tomorrow, in search of powerful benders that could help me. I thought of getting a bender of every element, but then I remembered the only other air bender alive was in the council of nations. _

"I'll restore balance to this world." I said to myself.

"I won't allow anyone close to me to die" I said as I fell asleep.

**Day 2**

_I awoke to see the sun in the sky. As I melted my dome, I could hear the voices_

_of the people in the marketplace. I walked and saw a large fountain in the center. It had words engraved into it._

"In honor of Sokkenai?" I said aloud.

_I didn't understand what it meant, but right now that didn't matter. I turned away just to see a concession stand be destroyed._

"This is what you get old man!" I heard a man yell.

_I began to look and saw the same white robes and the four-nation insignia. He was young, perhaps my age. I knew he was a fire bender because the old man's stand was burning to cinders._

"How am I supposed to pay off my debt, if your council has raised taxes 30% in the last two weeks?!" the old man said.

"It's not my problem old man; you should have sold more food." The fire bender said. "Your food stand is property of the council of nations now and is being relocated to the Northern water tribes. Pack your stuff old man; it will be a long trip."

"I can't leave!" the man said, "I have a family to take care of!"

"Fine, I'll just burn you until you decide to come with me!"

_The teenage boy began to make a motion to fire bend, but as he started to bend both his hands froze._

"What's going on?!" he exclaimed.

"I froze your hands using the water in the air from last night's rain." I said. "Leave this man alone, you don't have the right to take his stand."

"You talk tough for a little kid" he replied, "But let's see you back that tough talk up little man!"

_At that moment, he melted the ice around his arms and sent a ball of fire towards me. I used the water in the air and sent it towards his fire ball. As they collided they both evaporated. I sent several sharp icicles towards him and he shot fire and melted them. He then began to charge up a fireball towards me. When he sent it towards me, I brought up a small wall of water and I could barely block the ball in time. The force from the collision knocked me back to the floor._

"What's the matter kid?! Can't handle a little fire?!"

_My left hand was burnt, but I didn't have the time to heal it. I sent a wave of water at him but he countered with another powerful fireball. As the ball headed towards me, I knew without my left hand I wouldn't be able to defend in time. As I braced to be hit, a wall of ice rose in front of me._

"Huh?" I whispered to myself.

_I looked behind me and saw and man. He did not look too much older than me. He wore a red shirt with an insignia of the water tribe on the shoulders. He began to walk towards the fire bender._

"Who are you?" the fire bender asked.

"Mikeru Sokkenai." He said, "You should at least hear the name of the man who would kill you."

"In your dreams!" he said.

_The fire bender sent a fireball towards him. Mikeru sent a wave of water to counter it, which not only evaporated the water but hit the fire bender and knocked him to the floor. Before the fire bender could get up again, he was frozen in place._

"What-"

_That was all the fire bender could say before a large icicle pierced his heart. The fire bender was dead, and this man had saved me. I did not know his motives, but I was about to find out._

"Your hand's burned." He said

"It's nothing, I'll heal myself right up." I replied.

_I began to take water from the fountain and heal my hand._

"You have healing abilities?" he said. "Wow, you have a gift many water benders want."

"Ya, Mikeru was it?" I asked.

"Yup, and who would you be?"

"Kai Winters." I said. "Wait, you said your last name was Sokkenai?"

"Ya, what of it"?

"I saw that name written on the fountain, did you build it?"

"No." he replied, "My father built this marketplace. But now I own this marketplace because he has passed."

"I'm sorry to hear that." I replied, "Mind sharing what happened?" I asked.

"Well, after the meteor shower, we were in the Northern water tribes. The disaster had destroyed many of our homes and my father had volunteered to help refugees recover. He built this marketplace but when he was favored by the people, the council of nations thought he may lead a rebellion against them. So he was invited to speak with the council of nations in person to discuss new reforms for our country, but then he never came back…

"I'm sorry." I said. They took a loved one from me too.

_I took a while to tell him the story and as I finished…_

"So now your out to defeat this council of nations." He said.

"Yes, but I need a small but powerful group of benders to help me. Can I ask you for help?"

"I'm in." he said, "I have a bone to pick with them as well. We can rest at my home, seeing as your home has been destroyed."

"Thanks…" I mumbled under my breath.


	3. Chapter 3

**Day 2 (Our goals, our plan)**

_We spent the afternoon walking to Mikeru's house. I don't know how long it took us to get to his home, but the sun was setting when we arrived. His house was a small cabin with a scarlet colored paint job. I walked into his house. I saw a lower floor with a fireplace in one corner, and a table with chairs in the center. In another corner was a stairwell leading up to two bedrooms. I sat in one of the chairs and saw Mikeru pull out a steak of venison. He took firewood piled from outside and placed it on the fireplace and started the fire. He sat in the chair across from me._

"So…" he began, "What exactly have you planned against to do against this council of nations?"

"Well, I had planned to find more benders to help us out. After we find some benders, I want us to practice and take over this island as a starting point. As we continue, our reputation will build up and we will become more favored with the people."

"Why get the favor of the people?" he said, "Their maybe some who want to stop us and report us to the council."

"I don't think they would." I replied, "These people have been treated badly by people who were to protect them in their time of need as refugees. If we get more favor from the people of this island, they can help support us against the many members of the council. I don't know how many members there are, but I know there is enough to cover each nation. So with that in mind, we also need to be careful with how fast word gets out about us."

"From what I see," Mikeru said, "We'll need a bender of each element with each element to effectively combat the council."

"The only problem with that is that there is only one living air bender alive to this day." I replied. "We'll work with what we get."

"So then…" he said, "We'll need stronger benders. From what I saw in that fight you were in, fighting isn't one of your strong points."

"So you noticed." I said. "No, I don't fight very well. My strength is in healing and the tools I make.

"Like What?"

_I pulled out my water marbles._

"Here, I used the water from the gases inside the marble and condensed them into liquid. When you throw them they shoot out water you can bend."

_I remembered something. Before I left my home, I had grabbed my newest invention and put it in my side pocket. I now pulled it out._

"What's that?" he said "It looks like its missing something."

"Its meant to be this way. Its only the hilt of a sword, but its designed to only be the hilt and then bent into ice for the blade. I haven't used it since I made it though."

_Mike (Mikeru, but I decided I'd call him mike) took the venison from the fire and served them to us._

"Sounds like you know what your doing." He replied.

"Yeah, I can make useful things out of many seemingly useless materials. I had many in my old home, but their all gone."

"Well, I'm going to get some rest. If we are going to start looking for people to help us tomorrow, I want to be awake for it."

"Same here." I said.

"You can sleep in the bedroom upstairs on the right, good night."

"See ya."

_I walked upstairs to my room. It was simple, A bed, a small desk, a clock that read 11:00 pm. The walls were painted light blue and have a dark brown hard wood floor. I lie in the bed, slowly falling asleep. I fell asleep, but the time that I slept only felt like an instant. I awoke to hear my name._

**Day 3 (Their return)**

"Kai!" I heard.

"What Mike?"

_It was early, the clock read 6:00 am. I was already wide awake as if I hadn't slept._

"look out the window!" he said.

_I saw two people; A man and a woman. Both wearing the council of nations' robes. But when I took a closer look is when I noticed…_

"Those two…. They're the ones who killed my sister!" I exclaimed.

"What?!" Mike replied. "well this means we can't let them go anywhere."

_We rushed down the stairs and outside, it was drizzling and cold but I didn't care. I only wanted revenge for my sister._

"You… Your that kid." The man said. "I was sure I killed you."

"Don't worry, We'll get him this time, and his new friend" the woman said.

_I didn't reply and neither did Mikeru. I was focused on getting ready to kill the two of them and avenge my sister. A second later the woman aimed to fireballs towards us. We both dodged. The man threw two large rocks at us. Mike had dodged his, ran towards me and punched the one headed for me._

"How did you…" I mumbled.

_I noticed then that he had done something I never saw a water bender do before. His hands were frozen with a thick sheet of ice. Covered in spikes, his hands were powerful enough to even break steel._

_The Man threw a wall of earth towards him, but Mike punched through it and ran towards him. With his left hand, he aimed for his stomach and got a direct hit. Blood shot out from the man's mouth. Mike then took his right arm and punched the man in the face; his nose was bleeding as well._

_I threw my marbles down at the fire bender's feet and froze them in place. Ignoring that, she threw several fireballs at me that I dodged. I took out my hilt and started to focus my water bending into it. Water began to flow around it and then froze into a sharp blade. I ran towards her. With he feet frozen she couldn't run. She began to burn where I had froze her and began to move as I swung my sword at her. I hit her, but it wasn't deep. She was bleeding on her left shoulder._

_I swung my sword again, she again dodged and threw several more fireballs at me. I held my ground and swung my sword through the fireball and cut it in half. I moved in closer and cut her right leg deeply. I could tell she could no longer walk on that leg in that condition. Mike took his fists and rapidly punched the man in the stomach, blood spewing out from his mouth. He hit the ground and Mike was about to deliver the final blow. Likewise I was about to cut the fire bender's throat until both me and Mikeru were pushed back by heavy winds. I saw her. The last living air bender was in our faces. She wore the same robes as the other two. She grabbed the other two benders we had her and was consumed by winds. They disappeared. I didn't get my revenge and they had gotten away._

"Dammit."I said.


	4. Chapter 4

**Day 3 (lineage)**

"I can't believe they got away!" I exclaimed.

"Did you get a good look at the air bender?" Mikeru asked. "I couldn't see her face when she showed up."

"No I didn't see. She moved too fast and the wind was too strong. Next time I see those two, I'll kill them."

"So what now?" he said, "It wouldn't make sense to look for them. They might have people show up like that air bender did."

_I sighed._

"We should start looking for more allies." I said. "If we're getting new people, I'll need supplies to expand your cabin. I'll stay around your home and build more rooms with the trees nearby. Go to the marketplace and look for another bender."

"alrighty," he replied, "I'll be back before sundown."

_We walked in opposite directions. It was still raining and I could here the sound of the water hitting the trees around me. When I thought about it, the rain would make it easier for me to move the trees. I bent the water in and around the tree and separated the main part of the tree from what became the trunk. I spent what I thought to be about two hours or so doing this with multiple trees. I went into Mike's cabin and began to take out crystallized nails from my bag of supplies. I spent the rest of the day breaking down the wall next to my room and adding more walls. When I finished I could see the sun starting to move downward. I took the extra wood and sparked a fire in the fireplace. I hadn't realized though, that I hadn't gotten any food. I went into Mike's kitchen on the first floor and looked around several cabinets. I found some fish in a bucket and went to put them on the fire. I could see the sun starting to set as the food cooked. I started to look around the cabin and what I hadn't noticed was another door in the corner of the room. I never went into that area of the cabin before and began to walk towards the door. As I opened it, it led me into a room filled with books. I looked at a book entitled "Emotions and Water benders." As I looked through the book I skimmed through a few pages and read that anger messes up water bending and calmness makes it stronger. I looked through a few more books and saw a book entitled "The Sokkenai line." I began to look at the book and read. It said, "The royal family Sokkenai began from Mikeru the first. He was the founder of the water bending art and taught the first water benders. The Sokkenai name was further glorified when Mikeru II was found to be an avatar." I read further through several pages until I saw one page and the other part of it ripped. It read," Mikeru IX was a well known provider for refugees on rebirth isle. He was pronounced missing two months after his wife died from childbirth and gave birth to their son Mikeru X. His location today is unknown but is still being searched for to pass………._

Hmm…. "I said aloud. "I'll have to ask Mikeru about this one some other day."

_I put the book back and went towards the fireplace again. I began to think that if that story is true, Mikeru is the tenth person in his lineage and he's royalty. I wonder why he never thought to share this. I heard the door open._

"Hey Kai, I'm back." Mike said, "I found someone willing to help us."

_I looked a saw a tall man with a torn black shirt at the short sleeves and pants. His face appeared jaded as thought he had been outside a while._

"What's your name?" I asked.

……. _He mumbled something under his breath._

"Say that again?" I said.

"D- Dylan" he said.

"I found him in one of the alleys in the market." Mike said, "He was being charged for thievery back one of those council guys. Before I had a chance to do anything, I saw the man sink into the ground by Dylan's earth bending.

"So you're an earth bender." I said, Well as long as your helping us out, this will be your home.

"Thanks…." Dylan said.

"I'm Kai Winters." What's your last name anyway?"

"I don't know…." He replied.

"You don't know? Why not?" I said.

"When I was sixteen, I suffered from a head injury on this island. I got amnesia and can't remember anything from before that day. The alley kids were calling me Dylan and that's what I've been called since then. I've lived on the streets for the past year off of whatever I could find."

…….. _I stayed silent._

"So you don't remember anything at all?" Mike said.

"Nothing." He replied.

"So," I said. "then I would assume in helping us you hope to find your memories as well?"

"That's what I'm hoping for." He said.

"Alright, well dinner should be ready now." I said.

"So how come you know how to earth bend still Dylan?" Mike asked.

"After my injury, the street kids showed me how to earth bend after my accident. I hadn't known how to before or at least I don't think I had."

"So where were those kids today?" Mike said.

"Many of them were captured and sent to prison on charges of stealing. We didn't have many ways of getting food so we had to steal. I was one of the few who weren't caught at all."

"I see." I said. "Tomorrow I'll fix up your clothing and ill get more supplies that can help us with our mission. I need to start making a map of all the places we go to so we can keep track of things."

"Sounds good." Dylan said.

"I'm going to sleep early." I said, "Your room is the room on the far right upstairs. I just built the room and bed frame today. I hope you don't mind a water bed. I can't afford a mattress."

"It's good." He said.

_I went into my room, and passed out on the bed. Listening to the rain in my ear, I began to think about everything that was accomplished today. I learned more about Mikeru and we got a new teammate. We are one step closer to taking down this council and I knew would someday. _


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Just to make note of it, **words in regular print are what the characters are saying, _italic printed words are Kai's thoughts, __**and bold italic printed words is Kai narrating the story in a past or future event. **_**Also, I'm shortening council of nations to CON.**

**Day 5 -- (Moner)**

_I walked through the forest at and looked at the full moon. I didn't care where I was walking, but I just kept going. I saw a figure in the shadows moving closer to me. Before I allowed the figure to get within my sight, I focused my waterbending into my hilt and threw the frigid sword at the figure. It didn't try to dodge and just took the hit and collapsed. I slowly moved closer and began to hear my heartbeat. I moved close and looked at the figure: a man with broken shackles tied to his arm. He was wearing torn brown clothing as though he had been in the woods a while. _

"I know who you are." I said, "you're the man who murdered half the people in the marketplace."

"I didn't do that!" the man exclaimed, "I only defended myself!"

"Defended yourself from over a dozen people?!" 'Why would the entire marketplace want to kill you without you having done something in the first place?!" I said.

"Because I was framed!" the man said.

_**But the rest of this event will be explained later. For now, we'll go back to where we left off before this whole thing started.**_

**Day 4 – (Cold Frost)**

_I woke up to the first sunny day I've spent at mikeru's house. I looked for my bag and put on my black hooded sweater as I walked down the stairs. When I reached the kitchen, I saw Mike already cooking what looked like hawk eggs and Dylan reading the news from the messenger hawk. _

"Morning guy" Dylan said, "I figured you wouldn't be awake for much longer."

"How do you figure?" I replied.

"It doesn't matter, come, read the news that the messenger hawk brought."

_I walked to the table and picked up several messages left by the hawk._

"I saw a few things I'd like to get from the market." Dylan said, "Maybe get me a bag of those new cheese crackers they have on sale today, eh?"

_I saw mike start to laugh._

"How are you gonna buy anything without any money?" Mikeru said, "If you haven't noticed, we don't exactly have all the money in the world."

"Well we could just take it?" he replied.

"We're trying to help these people, not make things worse on them." Mike said.

"And just how will we do that?"

"Maybe do somethin' for the wealthy in the northern part of the continent? I hear they paid a teenager to cut their grass for 300$ an hour."

"But that's too much work….." Dylan said.

"But they're rich!"

"I have an idea." I interrupted. "Come read this article."

"Man jailed for murders of several citizens of rebirth isle." Mike read, "Several people have been going missing the past few weeks with no sign of return. James Moner has been imprisoned for the murder of more than a dozen people after he was found in the marketplace a week ago standing over the body of a local storeowner. The storeowner's body was heavily mutilated and Moner was found to be charged for his murder in addition to the murders of the other townspeople. CON members have reported as witnesses to his crimes and have testified agains him. Moner's expected sentence is execution by firebending to be carried out in 3 days."

"So a murderer is being punished for his crimes," Dylan said, "how is that gonna help us at all?"

"Well…" I replied, "doesn't it seem a little suspicious that the only evidence they're using to determine he is guilty are witnesses from CON?"

"wat do you mean?" Mikeru said.

"Why is it only council members that witnessed it, and not any citizens? I mean a true murderer makes sure of his surroundings beforehand and would have disappeared as soon as he completed his task."

"Ok." Dylan said, "but why should we try prove him innocent? Not only that, how would we manage to get any evidence that this was a setup?'

"Well, in order to take CON down, we need money—

_As I said that, the stairwell up to our bedrooms collapsed._

"uhhh…..you were saying…?" said Mike.

"We REALLY need money, training and the support of the people to take down CON. By proving a citizen innocent, we could show that CON are against the people and in that, gain their support."

"So how do you plan on proving this guy innocent then?" Dylan said.

"Using my personal tape recorder, we'll catch one of the members talking about the incident behind the scenes."

"Sounds like a plan." Mike said.

"We have 3 days to find and prove this guy innocent. The prison he's being held at is at the southern part of the island and will take a day and a half to travel to."

"That's not a lot of time to work with." Dylan said.

"Yeah, so let's get going then."

_We ate breakfast and began to head south into the forest. The sunny day began change as it became foggy as we travelled through the forest. We could barely see where we were going but as long as we were headed south, it didn't really matter._

"So Kai…" Dylan said "how come you carry that little hilt on your back? I've never seen anything like it before, not to mention I've never seen a bender need something like that."

"My waterbending in terms of offence is very weak. I'm able to heal wounds well, but without a good offence I can't protect myself."

"I see…" he replied, "So you must have practiced with a sword for a long time to have the skill to wield it."

"Yeah, I spent years practicing my technique with my sister. It's one of my oldest inventions and because of that I've had a lot of time to improve it. It has been amped to allow the movement of nearby water molecules to become much easier."

" Can you invent other weapons like that?" he asked.

"Yes but without any MONEY, I can't buy needed parts to make s---

"Do you hear that?!" Mike said.

_The fog was dense and had the same effect on my mind. I had trouble focusing on what was to come. I heard rustling in the bushes and heard a loud howling noise when I say the creature emerge from the bushes. It was a wolf-like creature and was five times our size. It looked towards us with an angry look._

"What is that?!" asked Dylan, "I've never seen anything like that in the marketplace."

"That's a Fenrir." I said. "It's a snow wolf with waterbending abilities."

"So let's kill it before it kills us." Mikeru said.

"No." I said. "I want to tame it. If we can tame it, we won't have issues getting to any place on any part of the island."

"And how do you plan on doing that?" he said.

"Just get all four of his legs immobile. He should tire himself out after we get that done."

_Dylan started off and slammed his hands into the ground. Stalagmites formed in the ground and headed for the Fenrir. It jumped and aimed to land on Dylan. Mike jumped in with his ice fists and punched the Fenrir away from Dylan before he could land on him. The Fenrir sent a wave of ice towards Dylan. He moved away but at the same time the Fenrir ran up to his face and breathed an icy breath onto Dylan. He was frozen into an ice block. Mike punched the Fenrir in his face causing him to fall. During that time I was focusing my bending to freeze all his legs. Mike ran to punch the Fenrir again but it lifted its claw to try and intercept the punch. When they clashed, Mike was sent flying back sliding on his feet. I began to freeze the legs of the Fenrir as it tried to stop me by charging me. Before it could get close, all four of its legs were frozen as it began to struggle._

"Cool, we got this thing." Mike said.

"Lemme go defrost Dylan." I said.

_Just as I finished freeing him, the Fenrir charged towards me and stopped at the last moment. _

"Well, it looks like he's willing to stay with us now." I said.

"What are you gonna call him?" Dylan said.

"Hmmm…. I think Frost."

"Let's keep going then." He replied. "We have to go free that guy."

"Don't fall off now."

_We continued heading south in the fog. With Frost with us, not only can we get to places faster, he's a powerful wolf that can help us. We rode for an hour until we came a checkpoint with two guards in front of Alglave: the port city in which the prison was._

"No entry is permitted beyond this point." One of the guards said. "Leave at once!"

_As he said this, flames blazed in his hands._


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: For conversation, I'm going to put the first initial of main character to make it easier to keep track of who's talking.**

_We began to whisper amongst ourselves._

D: "Okay, what do we do now?"

K: "We have to get in somehow."

M: "I say we force our way in."

K: "If we do that and something goes wrong, they'll probably call in backup. Maybe we should come back later."

D: "We've already wasted most of today and the sun is setting, we won't have a place to stay if we wa—"

_As Dylan was speaking, I began to hear Frost take a deep breath. When he stopped, a dense cold wind blew past the guards and froze them into ice blocks._

K: "Damn, I love this guy."

_We rode into the city on Frost. We were stared at as we walked in because of Frost's large size, it made us an eyesore. We went into the city and began to look around for the inn. There were boats close to the dock of the city where I could see fishermen bringing in their catch before the sun set. I noticed several small houses, a tavern, a courthouse and the prison. I also noticed a store with the sign being covered by a giant swordfish. We walked towards the inn and left Frost outside. I walked around the 3-floored inn where there was a bearded man smoking wiregrass, a grass that grows frozen as ice, through a pipe. I let Mikeru check in for us as I began to walk around and saw the rugged floor that had the CON insignia on it. _

M: "We are on the first floor in room 8, 9, 10 and we have the rooms for the 3 days we are here to try and save this Moner guy."

K: "alright, well it says it's 8 o'clock I think I'm gonna sleep early. You guys go do what you want."

_I took the room key to room 8 from Mike._

D: "Okay, See you tomorrow."

_I went into my room and noticed a small bathroom, a bed, a clock and a small table. I immediately fell onto the bed and went to sleep._

**Day 5 – (Moner)**

_I woke up and the clock said 1 am. I was wide awake and didn't feel like sleeping at all. I went outside of my room and left the inn. I figured I shouldn't wake them up since they were probably up all night. I walked into the tavern despite my age and sat down near the bar. I noticed several adults, mostly men, having drinking contests at nearby tables. The room was bright with many gleaming floors and tables. I was going to order a drink, but I didn't feel like it after I had entered the building. I walked outside the tavern to and headed towards the port. I went to the docks and heard a man calling out to me._

Man: "Hey kid, aren't you a little young to be in a tavern?"

_I didn't answer, the man looked drunk to me._

Man: "What's wrong? Afraid I'll report you and get you locked away?"

K: "What is it you want guy?"

Man: "Give me all the money you have."

_I noticed his left hand started to glow. I saw electricity coming out of his hands. "O shit, water conducts electricity." I thought. Not only did he have the advantage, I was also standing at the edge of the dock._

Man: "Now!"

_I stayed silent still trying to think._

Man: "Fine, I'll just fry your fucking brain and take it!"

_The man sent a shot of forked lightning towards me, I ran and jumped off the side of the dock to avoid the shot. I came back up on a wave of water heading towards the man. I got him and knocked him onto the floor as I landed on the ground and away from the side of the dock.. He shot another bolt of lightning at me. I raised a small barrier of water in front of me to freeze into ice but before I could freeze it, it went through the water and hit me in the side. "Damn, my body is numb." I thought. I fixed my stance as he began to send another one at me. I moved out of the way as I pulled out my hilt and started to charge it with my waterbending into a sword. He aimed another bolt at me that I dodged and I threw me sword towards him. The sword cut the side of his arm and landed on the dock behind him. He sent another bolt of lightning at me. He hit me in my left leg and I fell down. As he started to charge another bolt to finish me off, I focused the water in my sword and bent the sword towards him and through his chest. He was dead. I could barely stand. I took my hilt out of the man and left the ice of the blade in his body. I walked towards the forest from which we entered Alglave. I walked through the forest at and looked at the full moon. I didn't care where I was walking, but I just kept going. I saw a figure in the shadows moving closer to me. Before I allowed the figure to get within my sight, I focused my waterbending into my hilt and threw the frigid sword at the figure. It didn't try to dodge and just took the hit and collapsed. I slowly moved closer and began to hear my heartbeat. I moved close and looked at the figure: a man with broken shackles tied to his arm. He was wearing torn brown clothing as though he had been in the woods a while. _

K: "I know who you are, you're the man who murdered half the people in the marketplace."

Moner: "I didn't do that! I only defended myself!"

K: "Defended yourself from over a dozen people?!" 'Why would the entire marketplace want to kill you without you having done something in the first place?!"

Moner: "Because I was framed!"

K: "Framed how?"

Moner: "This man wearing black robes asked me if I wanted to become someone famous—someone who meant something to the world. My wife had just recently died and I wasn't feeling so great so I decided to take the offer. The robed man took out two blades and began to stab a near vendor. When he stopped, I looked at the man and listened to see if there was a heartbeat. When I saw he wasn't alive, I looked for the man and he had disappeared.

K: "If you're willing to work with me, I can help you prove your innocence."

Moner: "Really?! You'd do that for me?! Thank you Mr…."

K: "Kai. Let's get going."

_I helped the man up and began to walk. As I turned around water began to surround my arms, legs and body._

K: "What the fuck?! What is this?!"

Moner: "You child, you killed one of my men. That I can't let you get away with.

K: "What happened to proving you innocent?!"

Moner: "I lied, you little shit. I killed that man at the marketplace and all the other people that have disappeared. And now, I'm gonna kill you! Come out guys."

_four men appeared out of the bushes and were staring at me._

K: "Dammit."

Moner: "Say goodbye kid!"

_The water surrounding me froze. It then broke off into several large shards and freed my body. The shards then flew towards two of the men and stabbed them in the chest. I looked behind me and saw Mikeru and Dylan. Dylan Bent the earth around the other man and he began to sink into the ground as if his body was in quicksand until his head was gone. Mike's arms were bent into ice fists as he charged towards Moner. He dodged several times and threw several icicles towards him. He dodged the icicles and began charging him again. I began to focus my waterbending into the air around us and froze Moner's arms. Dylan trapped Moner's feet in the earth as Mike charged him. He punched Moner in the chest so hard that I saw the bone in his left shoulder was exposed outside his skin. He dropped dead. _


	7. Chapter 7

K: "Why are you guys this early in the morning?"

D: "Well we could be sleeping and then you'd be dead…"

K: "…"

M: "Dylan was at the tavern all night looking to—"

D: "Hush!"

M: "Long story short, he got drunk and he spent the whole night searching the town for cheese crackers."

_I took some water from the air as I began to heal myself._

K: "And you ended up here how…?"

D: "I saw you leave the town, Mike didn't believe me though and thought I was still drunk."

_Dylan chuckled a little. I think he is still drunk._

M: "So we followed you and here we are."

K: "Well, I just found out that we don't really have a reason to be here anymore."

M: "Why's that?"

D: "living cheese!!!"

_He was staring at a rabbit, definitely still drunk._

K: "Among other strange things… the guy you just killed was the guy we were gonna save."

M: "So we killed our client?"

K: "Yes…. And no. He was the man we were gonna save, however he committed all those crimes on purpose and was gonna kill me if you guys didn't show up."

D: "Don't run from me giant cheese cracker!"

_He ran after the rabbit and out of my sight. I think he tripped because I heard a loud thud. We chuckled a little._

K: "Umm anyway… he wanted to kill me because he saw me killed one of his buddies that tried to rob me."

M: "Now I see, so what now?"

K: "We'll head back to the hotel and sleep the remainder of the night. I'll get our money for the remaining nights back, and we'll head back home and look for another plan."

M: "Okay, might as well go back then."

K: "Where's Dylan?"

_We looked around the area and headed for the spot where we heard the thud. Dylan was still there and asleep. We headed back to the hotel and spent the night sleeping until mid-morning. We packed and headed back to our Mike's house. I built a icy, smaller version of our house for Frost as this was his first time being there. I walked inside and was reminded of why we even left the house in the first place. I saw the collapsed stairwell leading up to our rooms. I sat at the table and so did Mikeru and Dylan. _

D: "Wha—"

_He was interrupted by a knock at the door. Mike went to answer and I heard him talking to someone who's voice I couldn't hear. He handed something to Mike and closed the door._

K: "What did that guy want?" I said.

M: "He was from the Alglave court officials. Apparently they heard about the events that happened yesterday with all the bodies that were left behind."

D: "So what? Does he want to put us in prison?"

M: "Just the opposite. He gave me some money and said if we would be willing to, he'd like to request our help in future matters."

D: "Cool! Go to the market and buy the crackers now!"

K: "………."

M: "We can fix the stairs for stairs for starters."

_There was another knock at the door. Dylan answered it a took a piece of paper from the man at the door._

K: "What did he want?"

D: "Hmm…?"

K: "The guy at the door."

D: "Oh, he was just thanking us for making the market a safe place."

K: "Oh okay, well all this stuff has been giving me an idea."

M: "To do what?"

K: "Well, the officials are gonna come back and ask us for help sooner or later right?"

M: "Yeah…so?

K: "Why not become mercenaries for hire?"

D: "Mercenaries?"

K: "Yeah, we'll fight or protect someone for pay and this way we'll have a way of making money and slowly get people to know who we are."

M: "I guess it could work…"

K: "We can use the house as a place to put in the requests for aid, and have a sign on the door for people to ask us for help."

D: "How do you know how much to charge them though?"

K: "Based on how long they want our help, how dangerous the job is, or how much they can offer. We can't always take all the money we may want to charge because we want them to come back and help us out later."

D: "So what do you need to start this up?"

K: "Us mainly, and maybe a few clients. I need some fish from the market and to feed Frost if you guys don't mind going to get some while I fix the stairs."

M: "Okay, We'll be back just after sundown."

_As they left I went outside to get some leftover wood to fix the stairs. I passed Frost who was sleeping in his new earthen hut. I went back inside to make the stairs and finished a few minutes before Mikeru and Dylan would come back. I looked outside and saw them walking on the trail coming back as it started to rain. I figured they'd handle dinner and feeding Frost so I went up to my room and went to sleep._

**Day 6 – (Memory)**

_I woke up and saw the clock in my room read 9:15 am. I went downstairs and saw a crumpled piece of paper on the table and began to read it. "Its time to finish what was started years ago. Meet me at the central part of Sokkenai market at 10:00am so we can end this." I tried to think of where this paper had come from and I remembered seeing Dylan take a piece of paper from someone at the door yesterday. I ran outside and saw Dylan was walking away. I ran towards him…_

K: "Dylan, is this message for you?!"

D: "….."

K: "Is it?!"

D: "Yes but its complicated."

K: "Complicated how?! It says your going to 'finish' something, that doesn't sound to complicated to me!"

D: "Don't follow me. I have to do this alone."

K: "I still don't even know wha—

_He threw stone wall into my face. I collapsed and was knocked out._

_When I woke up, I was in the house. My hands and feet were tied to the table and my mouth was covered with ropes. I tried to break out but I couldn't move. I sat there for what felt like several hours until I saw Mike come down the stairs. I didn't realize he was home and still asleep but in this case it didn't matter. He began to untie me…_

M: "What happened here?!"

K: "Dylan ran off somewhere and we have to go to the market and catch him."

M: "Why's that?!"

K: "I'll tell you on the way, what time is it?!"

M: "9:50"

K: "We need to hurry then."

_We ran outside to wake up Frost. I know with Frost we'd be able to get to the market a lot faster. We began to move as quickly as possible when I began to explain the situation…_

M: "So what exactly is going on?"

K: "I read this piece of paper that Dylan got from the man at the door yesterday. It talks about him 'finishing' something he started at 10:00 o'clock today."

M: "But why didn't he tell us?"

K: "He didn't say. I was talking to him and then I was knocked out and on the table as you saw me today. I don't know anymore than that."


	8. Chapter 8

_We rushed towards the marketplace where I could see the fountain in the distance. I remembered this being the place I met Mikeru and nearly died. I saw Dylan in the distance and another man. He appeared to be Dylan's age as well. His clothes were jaded and he was without shoes. The man and Dylan began to fight. Both of them started to earthbend._

K: "Dylan!"

D: "Don't interfere! This is my fight."

_Mike and I watched as the two began to fight. Dylan began to send several stones towards the man who in turned the stones to sand with his fists. The man punched the ground and a large wave of earth was sent towards Dylan. He lifted the land below him to dodge it, and then jumped down towards the man. The man ran to dodge Dylan's foot but was caught in the shockwave of earth following him. Trapped under the stones, the man began to struggle to move but could not. The ground beneath the man was turned into quicksand by Dylan as he bent the rocks off the man. The two gazed at one another for a moment and then the man disappeared within the ground. Dylan had won. _

M: "What the hell was that about?!"

D: "Do you remember the day we were trying to help that man and we found out he was a thug?"

K: "Yeah that wasn't to long ago. So what?"

D: "That same day, I was drunk. But I bumped my head on a stone that day."

M: "And….?"

D: "I remembered something…"

K: "What?!"

D: "I remembered my life before I met you guys and---"

_Dylan was hit with a plume and flames and knocked back onto the floor. He was unconscious._

M: "What the fuck?!"

_We turned and saw the two benders from before. The same ones who killed my sister. I had not planned on letting them escape alive again. I ran towards Dylan and took the water from the air to heal his burns._

_**Earthbending Man (EM)**_: "Looks like you guys took the bait."

K: "What bait? What are you talking about?!"

_**Firebending woman (FW)**_: "This setup. The man your friend just killed was only bait for a trap that seems to have worked.

M: "Just who are you people?!"

EM: "None of your concern. We still have an unfinished fight."

K: "That's what you're here for? A fight?!"

EM: "This isn't a game kid. Did you think we'd just forget that time you stopped us from destroying your buddy's house?"

K: "If that airbender hadn't saved you, you would have been dead."

FW: "You just got lucky, but your luck runs out here!"

_The firebender sent another fireball towards us. Mike blocked the fireball with some water._

K: "Mike! Hold them off for a bit while I get Dylan back up!"

M: "Okay, I'll use my new move on these biz'nitches then!"

_Mikeru began to draw a large amount of water from the surrounding area. He began to stand still and water began to pile up next to him. After a moment, A figure of ice appeared that looked to be a clone of him completely of solid ice. He bent his water around his arms into fists and charged the man. His clone charged towards the woman. The man sent a shockwave of uplifting earth towards Mike. He dodged it and punched the man across the face. The man quickly got up and threw large stones towards Mike. The stones broke as Mike punched them and began to move in closer. He punched the man in the right arm and caused the ice from his fist to flow onto and freeze his right arm. With the other fist Mike punched the same arm and shattered it. Lacking an arm and bleeding heavily, the man bent earth to cover his wound and prevent himself from bleeding out. As Mike charged him the man created quicksand beneath Mike's feet and he began to slowly sink. Mike's clone on the other hand, began charging towards the woman. The woman shot a fireball to which the clone countered with an ice beam. The clone ran towards the woman punched her stomach. The woman in turn tried to shoot a fireball directly in the clone's face but was countered by another beam of ice. It froze the woman's fingers and the clone punched the woman again and knocked her onto the floor. The woman shot fire through her fingers to defrost them. The clone began to charge her again but just before it punched her again, she shot a fireball and melted the clone entirely. _

_During this time I get Dylan healed up and conscious._

D: "What happened?"

K: "No time to talk, Mike needs our help with this people!"

_Dylan bent Mike out of the quicksand and Mike punched the man in front of him. The man collapsed to the floor but quickly surrounded himself in a body of earth. The woman started to get back up and aim at Mike. I bent the water left from the clone around the woman and used it to keep her held down. Dylan began to bend pieces of earth off the man. The earth however would immediately reattach itself to the man. The man charged at Mike with his earthen fists as Mike charged him back. Their fists both shattered on impact and sent them both flying backwards. The woman began to struggle against my hold and shot a fireball at me while on the ground. The hit caused me to lose control of the water. The woman then began to bend her body into pure flame. Despite the heat, she was surviving and began to rapidly send fireballs at me I dodged several of them and sent some water towards her, but it evaporated on contact. Dylan bent the earth around the woman to contain her flames and literally starved her flames of air. She was bound to the ground and lost her aura of flames. I ran to heal Mike as he was injured and the man got up and sent several a wave of stalagmites at me. Before they hit me Dylan bent them back and hit the man. As I started to heal Mike, Dylan bent the earth and bound the two benders together. I continued to heal Mike as I was wounded by my own burns. He began to regain consciousness._

M: "We got them this time."

K: "Dylan, you can finish them off."

_Dylan was about to deal the final blow as Frost came and froze them into human icicles. I watched as Frost began to pick them up with his teeth and eat them for breakfast. _

K: "I'm always gonna keep this guy around."

D: "Ruthless…"

K: "We finally got them…"

_As I finished healing Mike, I began to feel dizzy. Without any energy and wounded from my own burns, I blacked out. _


	9. Chapter 9

**Day 9—(Cold beginnings)**

**Mikeru POV:**

_After a fight like that, I can understand being tired, but asleep for days? I didn't think it would happen that way. Kai has been asleep three days now. After he had healed us, he just passed out and he hasn't been awake since. I woke up early as always and walked down into my kitchen. Seeing it's empty, I figure Dylan is asleep and Kai is still knocked out. I went outside to the back of my house and picked up my fallen training dummy. I bent water around my fists and began punching at it and practicing for battles to come. My father had taught me years ago that there are some battle you can't win. I refused to accept that._

**3 Years ago**

Mikeru's Dad(MD): Why are you here?!

M: I came to find you dad. I know you abandoned me years ago and—

MD: Abandoned? No… I threw you away.

M: What'd you say?!

MD: I threw you away because I didn't want you. My wife, your mother, was killed because you're alive. Her life meant more to me than anything else in this world and you took that away.

M: That's bullshit! You can't blame me because you didn't have the balls to pick yourself up after mom—

_Dad had punched me. And with that, he started a fight I would never lose. I began to punch at him several times. To my disappointment, he dodged each one with ease. I lurched forward and aimed at his face, but he caught my hand and punched me in the torso. I fell to my knees._

MD: This is why you're a waste of space. You can't even defend yourself.

M: *pants*

MD: Get out of my face you piece of shit. If I see you around here again, I'll make sure I kill you.

_I sat in that spot for what felt like hours. I had nowhere to go. I sat in that spot and as the sun was setting a waterbender looked me directly in the eyes. He stared for a moment, before he started to speak._

Man(MN): You look hungry son. You should come with me. I have a house on the island you can stay in.

M: ……thanks.

_I went to this man's house who I later found out was named Walter. He was a Southern Water tribe member and had cared for me out of his own kindness. He helped me to live and continue living. I had been living on the streets off of scraps of food. I had not known of family until I heard the man I don't believe to be my father say his last name. I had known then, that he was my "biologic" father. After 3 days, Walter and I had been living in the same home barely talking at all. It wasn't until then that he had finaly started to talk to me._

W: So child, what brings you to rebirth isle?

M: I…I don't know…

W: Surely you must have a reason for being here?

M: ….i just- always remember being on the island here and living by myself on the streets.

W: So you don't have any family at all?

M: …..

W: Mikeru?

M: I have- I have a father, but he can't be my father… he says he never wanted me and would kill me.

W: ….Well Mikeru, you're welcome to stay here as long as you like.

_From that day on I had been living with Walter. He had taught me to fish and hunt…He showed me to defend myself when I needed to and was the father I always wanted._

_**1 year later**_

W: Okay Mikeru. It seems you have been able to master my glacial fists technique. Now I will teach you something new.

M: What?

W: This technique focuses all your energy at once and surrounds your body with a chilling aura.

M: So what exactly does this do for me?

W: The aura enhances your normal abilites beyond what they used to be. Think of yourself as some sort of super athlete when you put this aura on. It is the reason I made you go through all the endurance and power training. It allows your body to handle the weight of the new power flowing through you.

M: So all I have to do is focus my energy?

W: Yes, however the more of your own energy you focus, the bigger a risk it becomes for you. You'll want to start small and work your way up.

_That day, the day I learned this technique…I needed to go see my "father."_

**The next day**

M: Hey Walter, I'm going to buy some fish from the market. I figure I'll be back in an hour.

W: Okay, but before you leave, I want you to have this.

_Walter handed me a crystal ring. It gleamed the deep blue that the ocean had. I put it on my ring and felt a small chill in my veins._

M: What is this?

W: It's a gift. Not only does it look nice but I hear it helps water benders focus in battle.

M: But what is it for?

W: I already told you Mikeru. It is a gift. You, Mikeru. You have been like a son to me this last year. And it's a year ago today that I met you. To me today is your birthday and I want to celebrate . When you come back, I have the afternoon planned out for you.

M: I don't know what to say…

W: Then don't say anything! Just go out and do what you need to. I'll be waiting for you when you come back.

M: Yeah, you bet.

_I left the house and went to the market. I went to the main fountain in the plaza where I saw him. He and another man appeared to be engraving his name into the fountain reading, "In honor of Sokkenai." When the man engraving his name left, I approached him. I immediately punched him in the face._

MD: …the fuck?!

M: ….

MD: You again?! Didn't you hear me the first time? There won't be a second time that you see me.

_He tried to punch me in the face and I caught his hand and punched him across the face. He punched me in the groin and I fell to my knees._

MD: See kid, I told you not to come here ev—

_I crystallized my fist and punched him in the nose. I heard the crackling of a bone and his nose was bleeding._

M: Fuck you and your problems! I've never met a shittier father—no that's too great of a compliement for you. Your're just a worthless piece of shit with no backbone.

_I spit on him and walked away. I brought my fish and looked his way. He goot up a while back, as I did not see him there anymore. It began to rain as I headed home. I walked towards the house and saw it in flames. In front of the house was Walter, and two CON members in black. Walter was on the floor._

W: Mikeru! Run away!

CON man(CM): shut up old man!

_With that, the man had earth bent a stalagmite through Walter's chest. As blood began to spread on the ground, I began to focus my energy in my own rage. I put almost all my energy into the aura I formed around myself. The Fire bender there say a fireball at me that did not make it past my aura to hit me. I charged towards the man at double my normal speed with my fists already crsytallized. I began to slam my fists into his face over and over until what was once a man's face could not be told apart from a man crushed by a boulder. The earth bender tried to contain me with the nearby earth, however it broke effortlessly. I faced my palm towards the man and the ice on my fist shot faster than a bullet and into the man's throat. His lungs were frozen and he slowly died from suffocation. With the disappearance of the aura, I collapsed and remembered Walter warning me about overdoing the aura. _

**I'm on my own again…**


	10. Chapter 10

**Kai's POV**

"_Don't water bend!" This was a saying my mother used to say to me. She used to tell me that a young age, I was a master at water bending. My mom however told me that one day the my abilities were just gone. I had no memory of why or how….that is, until I woke up this morning. I always heard that dreams were a gateway to suppressed memories and desires. I never had an encounter of the sort before today. I remember water bending an entire river dry and then taking all the fish we needed to feed our village. One day, my dad—my water bending teacher, challenged me to a battle for title of the strongest in the village. He was strong with battle scars from past wars. He wore a blue water tribe shirt and had a giant snowflake imprinted on the back of his shirt. This was a shirt only the leader of the tribe wore. We were fighting over a lake and focused part of our bending into our feet. Doing this caused what would normally be simple actions: walking, jumping and bending, to become strenuous work to do without falling. We began fighting as my dad shot several icicles from beneath me as I stood on the lake. I jumped up and redirected those same icicles towards him which he broke with his frozen hammer. The frozen hilt was originally my dad's invention. Unlike my sword, his hilt transformed into a hammer. I pulled out my frozen sword and with both charged towards each other. My sword grazed him and his hammer was heading straight for me. Before it could hit me, I stopped focusing my bending in my feet and fell under the water. While I was under the water, my dad bent the water directly under him and me along with it. He forced me upward towards the surface of the water. With no control of my body or the water uplifting me, my dad pulled me up to the surface and immediately smashed his hammer into my skull. I fell deep underwater and was knocked unconscious. Minutes later my dad had fished me out of the water and brought me to a doctor. I woke up 5 days later with no memory of the past few days before. With this diagnosis, my parents thought they had nothing to worry about anymore. But that same day, I went to fish using my water bending and it didn't work. I had lost my ability to bend. I had always wanted to try and learn again, however my mother insisted I not. This was due to the life risk it put me in. A hit to the skull that strong could have done much more damage and we were lucky that it had not killed me. I remember saying to my mom, "Then who will be our tribe's leader when dad passes?"With that, I woke up._

_I was in my room and the sun was high in the sky. Without a clock I could tell it was about noon. I went down into the kitchen area where I saw Mikeru and Dylan speaking to someone._

K: Hey everyone, what's going on here?

D: Oh hey, this man wants to put in a job request.

K: and your name is sir?

Man(J): James.

K: So what do you need from us James?

J: Well, I recently heard about a serpent in the lake west of the market that has been terrorizing fishermen and killing them. Without the fishermen around, the market will lose a heavy amount of their food supply. Not to mention the food prices will go up and the people—

K: Ok, ok I understand that part. What is it you need from us though?

J: As I passed through the market, I saw your ad in the marketplace as mercenaries for hire.

K: Ad? What ad?

M: I put them up yesterday morning. How else are we gonna make some money if no one knows about us? Plus you guys owe me a lot for housing.

K: Alright, so in short, what do you want us to do?

J: I'm hiring you to kill the serpent.

D: What kind of serpent is it? Is one of the Fire breathing ones from the fire kingdom? Our the ones that shoot water from their mouths from the Arctic area of the southern water tribes?

J: Its water breathing, although it not being a fire breathing serpent does not make it any less of a problem.

K: How much are you willing to pay for this endeavor? This is no small job and would be suicide for a lot of people and—

_Dylan pulls me aside._

D: What are you saying here? You don't want to drive the man away.

K: But we can't just risk our lives for free! Plus we need to eat every day.

_Our argument grows louder._

D: If you continue talking like that, we won't be eating again!

_James butts in._

J: Excuse but, I'm here on behalf of all the fish selling vendors in the market. We are willing to pay 10% of the profit of fish from each of our stores.

M: And that amount would be…?

J: 30 Grand.

K,M,D: Sold!

K: split three ways of course.

M: We'll get right on your job after we get ready. Now let's discuss the terms of payment.

K: You two do that. Dylan, come with me so we can get everything we need.

_We gathered our things and began to get ready to go. However there wasn't much for us to do. Dylan grabbed a bag of cheese crackers and I grabbed my hilt. As we headed for the door, Mike and James were just finished and we headed out. For once, the distance to travel wasn't so far. Maybe it was so much faster because of Frost but the trip took us 10 minutes. We stared at the lake and we could see the bright sunny gleam off of the lake reflecting into the sky. There were few trees and tall grass near the edge of the lake. I could see the serpent dragging its face across the lake as if its face was a shark fin._

K: So what are we gonna do?

M: What can we do?

D: No, the question is, what can you two do?

K: Say wha…?

D: The serpent is in the middle of the lake. There's not much I can do if I can't water bend. Even if you drag me onto the lake, it's not like I can earth bend at it.

K: *sigh* I guess it's just you and me then.

_We walked onto the lake with our bending focusing at our feet. This was going to make us tired more quickly. I knew we would have to end this fast. We began to approach the serpent and it began to emerge out of the water. It was a jade green scaled beast with intimidating fangs. He charged down at the water near us and we began to dodge. Mike crystallized his fists and began to punch the serpent repeatedly. It didn't seem to do much but the serpent shot water towards Mike. I bent the water heading for him and redirected it towards the serpent. It pushed it back slightly but it began to charge at us again. We dodged and I pulled out my frozen sword and stabbed it in the neck. I hoped it would have done more damage, but it seemed to ignore the pain and shot water at me. The high pressure from the water knocked me back into and under the water. By this time, I was already almost exhausted. I remerged to the surface to see Mike still punching it until it slapped him away with its tail. He landed on his feet and began to charge at it again. I began to remember my dream from this morning and something….something just clicked. Like déjà vu, I felt as though I knew what to do next. I began to bend the air around the serpent. Mikeru was punching him but he didn't seem to notice again. As I continued to bend the water, I knew that both air breathing and water breathing creatures need a little of air and a little of water in what they breathe. I took away the water nearby the serpent's mouth and gills and it began to sort of…gasp at air. With it distracted from the lack of water I bent the water from the lake towards the serpent's mouth. As it hit the serpent's face, I froze the water and its head became a block of ice. It was then I saw Mike jump up and punch the serpent's frozen head off its body and into the lake. Blood began to spurt all over into the lake and the lake began to turn red._

K: Hell yeah…

M: Now how does 30 grand sound?

_From a distance, we could hear Dylan clapping and with James and eating cheese crackers._

K: Lazy ass…


	11. Chapter 11

_We rode Frost back to Mikeru's house where he had arranged with James to get our payment. It was late and the sun had already set._

J: …and here's the money I owe you all. I would like to thank you all again for your help and us vendors won't forget this.

K: No problem. We were just doing what you hired us to do.

_The door slams and James leaves._

_I turn back and Mike snatches 1,000 of my share of the 30,000 as well as 1,000 of Dylan's._

K: What the hell?

M: It's rent. Your guys are living in my house. Not to mention using my kitchen, bathroom, bedrooms, s—

K: fine I get it… I'm just going to go crash.

D: Night people.

**Dylan's POV**

_I went upstairs to my room and did not even remember falling asleep. I remembered being in a arena. I was fighting against a behemoth—a dinosaur…ish beast…thingy.. It was growling and started running towards me as I sank into the earth using my earth bending. I came back up from the ground and started punching several stones into the…umm… dinosaur? It's thick scales absorbed the damage from the rocks and it ran towards me. I bent rocks to cover my body like armor and braced for the…"thing's" impact. It lurched into me and I held my ground against the…"it" I picked it up by its tail and launched it into the air. When it hit the ground, it landed against its stomach hard enough to cause it to cough up its recent meal. Apparently, dinosaurish half creature, half Josef, (kid from the streets) looking things feed on humans as it coughed up a half digested arm._

**Kai's POV**

_I woke up in the middle of the night and fell back asleep. I dreamt of a memory from a few days before Susan…died._

S: Kai! Come with me to the lake.

K: hmm? Why?

S: We need fish maybe? Besides, you know it's harder to fish after dark.

K: alright, alright. Let's go

_We walked to the lake to fish using our water bending. I knew we had plenty of fish back at the house. The real reason she wanted me to come to the lake was to be out in the rain. She had always enjoyed it. _

K: Don't you think we've got enough fish now?

S: Yeah, yeah. But let's just stay in the rain a little while longer. You know what I heard?

K: What?

S: Rain symbolizes the loss of something for something better. Or at least, that's what mom always said. I've always been waiting to see something like that happen to one of us. Like, what could be better than losing something like a… a…

K: A loved one?

S: Yeah! I just don't know what you could replace with something like that. Maybe it's some king of lesson or some greater reason for the loss. Like—

K: I'm getting soaked… I hope you realize that…

S: Oh yeah, let's head back.

**Day 10—(Caseadonia)**

**Mikeru's POV**

_I woke up to hear the rustling of boxes out in my kitchen. I walked into my kitchen and saw the room was filled with red and orange boxes. I saw Dylan digging through the cabinets and so I moved closer to see what he was doing. I figured I'd take a calm approach to this, so I said…_

M: Dylan! What the fuck did you do to my kitchen?!

D: I'm sorry, what did you say?

M: It looks like McDonalds took a shit on my kitchen! What did you do?!

D: Well, you know, I was just using my reward money to… resupply.

M: Resupply?

_I read the boxes all over my kitchen. They all read the same thing. "Chizze's cheese crackers. If it's not Chizze's, it's not Chessey."_

_I see Kai walking down the stairs._

K: Because buying those crackers was a **great **way to spend your money… Just fucking genius.

D: Gotta do, what you gotta do man. Whatever gets you by.

K: ……

M: There's someone at the door.

K: What? I didn't hear anything.

_I go to open the door. I see a man in white robes and rainbow colored shoes. First thought that comes to mind is, "Okay, he's a faggot…"_

K: hello sir. What's your name?

Man(G): I am sir spifumopolopus sternine the third.

D: Something about a pig?

G: You can just call me George though. (pronounced Hor-hay)

M: so George what brings you here.

G: What brings me here? What brings me here?!

M: Yes, that's kind of what I just asked you…

G: Have you not heard of the annual rebirth tournament?

K: tournament? Like gladiator tournaments?

G: Yes! These tournaments have been going on for years and years now. For you to not have heard about them you would have had to have been living in a shell.

K: so what do the tournaments have to do with us?

G: These tournaments allow any contestants to enter for rewards like money, food, and anything else you could think of. I would like to enter you all as representatives for me and am willing to pay you for your services.

M: How much we talking here?

G: If you win, I would say about 80 grand.

_I think I drooled a little when I heard that number. When I looked at Dylan he looked as if he was about to faint, while Kai started writing something down._

K: Please sign this. It's a legal confirmation document. It makes sure what you say now us not changed later if you decide to change your mind.

G: Sure, sure.

K: So how many does just are we talking about spending in this tournament?

G: The games last about a week. In the mean time, I will pay for you all to stay in a hotel outside of the payment I am giving you all for taking on the job.

K: Are there major risks?

G: These games have no rules. You are allowed to go in with anything you consider a weapon—even monsters are allowed as a way of winning the games. The idea is that the games attract new civilians to the town and increase the overall profit.

D: And just where are we going? Or did I miss something?

G: The largest city on the island.

K: Jerium?

G: no fine sir. Caseadonia! The city of lights and fame! Where nobodies become somebodies, losers become winners, boys become men!

_Oh yeah…. Definitely a faggot._

D: Where would we have to go anyway?

G: It is far north on the island. I have a cart to take you guys there.

K: Oh joy…

G: I know isn't it?!

K: faggot…

G: What was that?

K: just thinking aloud. Lemme just grab a few things and I'll be ready.

_We went outside to see some white cart that I assume was to be from royalty. I wondered why if he was royalty, where was his arranged marriage wife? Maybe his faggotry drove her away before marriage._

K: This carries a risk of death. You guys do realize that don't you?

D: We won't die. Besides, it's not like we can't defend ourselves.

K: I guess so. Well look at that, it's raining.


	12. Chapter 12

**Kai's POV**

_Okay so, I'm on a cart with Dylan and Mikeru on my way to some tournament to fight for the faggot. It's drizzling out as I hear the horses outside of the cart walking and beginning to stop as I think we arrived at Caseadonia. _

G: Come boys, we're here!

K: Don't…ever say that…again…

G: Oh, don't be such a downer little one! I bet you could win over some sexy little girl here who will admire you for your strong muscles.

_Fucking Faggot…_

D: Let's go! I want my free hotel room!

_We walked towards what was the largest city I have ever seen. There were buildings on top of buildings on top of more buildings that somehow didn't topple. The houses were all painted red and white and the streets were filled with large boardwalks, shrubs and civilians. There were large elevators in the city that pulled us up from each floor of the city. The bottom floor is the entrance floor with all the carts carrying many different gladiators. The second floor has shops and the coliseum. The third floor has hotels and houses while the fourth floor has the rich mansions of the nobles living here._

K: In a few years, I could see myself owning one of those mansions.

M: *cough* rich * cough*

_We walked towards the large elevator and took it to the third floor. I saw Dylan staring at the faggot's shoes as he was staring into the gentleman's club on the second floor. We got to the third floor and walked into the hotel entitled, "la cama buen." As we walked in the walls were colored white and George the fruit started to speak to the receptionist. He gave us our room keys to the 3-floored hotel. Room 101, Room 102, and Room 103 were our rooms. The fruit had gotten all of our rooms inter-connected specifically for gladiators. _

G: these are your rooms boys. You have 5 minutes to settle down and then you all have to compete in the preliminary round.

K: these fights have no rules right?

G: Correct my fine friend.

_Shut the fuck up….._

K: What considers us winners in a match?

G: If your opponents either forfeit or die. Mostly die though. Any other questions before we all leave?

M/D: Are you gay?

G: That is a question for another day fine fellows.

_No doubt this guy has problems. Whatever. We walked into the lobby where we spotted a young couple having sex on the lobby chair. I didn't think anybody would say anything but you our "fine fellow" the fag just had to say something._

G: Oh now that is just wrong.

D: I know, that asian girl is totally screwing a white guy.

G: No not that! The guy's form is completely wrong. He needs more** thrust** in his motion!

K: …

_Moving on… We headed into the elevator and went towards the coliseum. We could hear large crowds of people yelling as we entered. The arena was half the size of the entire city. It was painted a gold color and had several rows of people encircling the sand in the arena. I got a little anxious at the thought of all the people. Knowing me it might screw up my performance. Again our little fruit friend began to talk to a receptionist. I heard the two begin to get to almost a screaming argument before the fag came back._

M: Is there a problem?

G: Yes! That woman thinks Black men are hotter than asian men!

K: *whisper* Can you manage to get men off your mind for even a second…

G: What was that young one?

K: I was asking if we can do what—what do we need to do now?

G: Go in, kill those boys, and bring me home the gold!

_We entered the arena for our first match in the rain. The sand was completely saturated and impaired our movement speeds. On the other side of the arena we saw 3 bandits come out. One with a sword, one with an axe and one with a spiked club. I looked up towards the audience to see a man in rainbow robes began to stand up. "Oh joy, another faggot…"_

Man: Let the games….begin!

_Immediately I saw the three men begin to charge and us and I pulled out my hilt and bent it into a frozen sword. Dylan began to bend the sand around the axe guy and immobilized him. Mikeru then ran to punch the axe guy until the guy with the spiked club bent the sand off his teammate. He sent the sand towards Mikeru and knocked him all the way back to where me and Dylan were standing. _

D: Damn, they're tougher than they look.

K: We need to figure out what elements they bend before we go charging in.

_The man with the axe began to bend a large fire ball towards me and Mikeru. Dylan bent hardened sand in front of us to block the attack. It began to storm outside and was pouring rain. I jumped on top of the hardened sand and bent the water droplets into a multiple spiked icicles. I sent them towards our enemies and the guy with sword melted the icicles with water bending. Mikeru punched the ground and sent a large mass of ice towards all the men. The man with the sword tried to control the wave of ice but was knocked back into the arena wall. I water bent the water droplets nearby into one large spherical mass of water. I threw the large water ball over the enemy team but the sword guy got off the arena wall and tried to bend the droplet. While he was struggling to send the ball of water back as if it were a volleyball, Mikeru jumped on top of the water ball and punched it with his ice fists. The ball exploded, knocked the enemy team onto the floor, and froze them in place. Mikeru punched the axe man in the head and fractured his skull. Dylan bent and stalagmite threw the chest of the guy the spiked club—killing him. I ran towards the sword guy with my frozen sword and stabbed him in the chest. Before he collapsed, he drew his sword and stabbed me in the chest._

_I fell and saw Mikeru and Dylan rushing towards me as my vision blurred. _


	13. Chapter 13

**Day 12 – Delta Sleep**

**Dylan's POV**

_It's been a full day now. Here in the hospital, all the walls are painted white as a symbol of life and cleansing. Here I sit by two beds—Mikeru's and Kai's. Kai has been asleep the entire time since the fight. When we rushed him to the hospital in the ambulance, I thought we had lost him. I had checked his heartbeat and heard only a faint pulsing every few seconds. His life was saved by a defibrillator as he was on the verge of death. Now he lies on a patient bed with stitches in his stomach under a light blue colored blanket. Mikeru lies in the bed next to him with minor wounds. The battle had not been so costly on him but he decided he would sleep early tonight. As I turn the channel on the television, a nurse walks in- Blonde haired, flat, and slightly chubby with light brown skin._

Nurse: I can handle their medical care for the rest of the night. You should go get some rest.

_As I walk outside, the sky is pitch black. I decide to stay up for a bit. I walk to the nearby tavern and decide I would have a drink. To my surprise, the tavern was empty. I walk up to the barmaid to order a drink. She is white, black-haired, and overweight—well overweight might be an understatement… _

Barmaid: What'll ya' be orderin' ?

D: Two Shots of Sangria.

Barmaid: Ya' come round' here often? I sees me many a faces in the day but I'll be damned if I don't 'member every single one.

D: Nah' I'm not usually around, I just don't have much elsewhere to go today.

Barmaid: So if ya' not round' from here, what ya' round' these parts for?

D: The tournaments here. I'm a hired mercenary and have been hired to fight in the upcoming matches throughout the next few days.

Barmaid: I hear ya' mercenaries make some good money. Round' these parts yer' either rich or poor.

_As I finish my second shot of Sangria, I began to wonder why I was talking to this person in the first place._

Barmaid: Well if yer' lookin' to meet somebody round' these parts, ya' can come find me anytime. I'd be more than—

D: Pardon my rudeness and my interruption but do you not have something else to do? I mean you tell me of there being rich and poor people and I can only imagine you being poor because you try to hook up with people on the job.

_The barmaids face froze. She slowly walked away into the bathroom as I heard a lot of noise from screaming in addition to the floor of the bar shaking. I noticed she left the bottle of Sangria out on the counter so I took it with me as I headed towards the hotel. I walk towards the door of the hotel but before I reach it, smoke forms all around me. I can't see anything as I walk through the smog until I hear a female voice saying "Don't move." I freeze in place as a dagger covers the front of my neck and another at my back. As the smoke cleared I saw two images of the same woman restraining me as the one in front of me. The woman was average height and had red hair. She was skinny with an average chest, light brown skinned, and wore a dark red battle suit with dark red shorts. A dark blue scarf hung from her neck and she a serious face showing towards me._

Woman: Here's how this gonna work, I am going to ask you a few questions and your are going to answer them. If you should refuse, you can kiss your dick goodbye.

D: …..

Woman: I overheard you in the tavern speaking of tournaments. Now tell me, have you been in this city more than a week?

D: …no

Woman: What about your friends? Or did you get here on your own?

D: What's it to you anyway?

Woman: I don't have to answer to that, but I would suggest you answer if you want to keep your little buddy down there safe.

D: ….We got here a few days ago.

Woman: To do what?

D: Fight in the tournaments, we were hired to do so.

Woman: and your friends, have they been hurt?

D: Why do you care?

Woman: Answer the question!

_I broke free of the woman's grip and bent to large stones out of the floor. I sent each one to each of the images of the woman. The first one, the one holding me in place, dodged the stone. The other one who asked me the questions was hit and burst into smoke upon impact. I bent earth around my entire body into a stone shield that covered me entirely. When I went to attack the woman, she was out of my sight. She suddenly appeared in front of me and destroyed the left and right stone guards on my arms with her daggers. She then kicked me back and onto the floor. I bent a wall of stone towards the woman while I was still on the floor but as I got up, the woman disappeared again. I punched the ground to make it uneven and she reappeared in my face. I punched her directly in the face but she disappeared into smoke again. I looked around for the woman until she finally stabbed my stone shield in the back and pierced my back with her dagger. I lie on the floor slowly fading out until I became unconscious._

**Woman's POV**

_As I dragged the body of this man to my room, I called my employer._

Woman: I couldn't force any information out of him yet, but I should be able to get what I need to know later. I'll get you what you want to know—that is, for a price. 


	14. Chapter 14

**Day 12 – Delta Sleep**

**Hours ago: Mikeru's POV**

_I woke up around 11pm in the hospital. Kai's bed is empty and the Dylan's chair is too. In my ears I hear the screaming of child in the nearby examination room._

Doctor: Nurses, make sure you hold him steady.

Child: No! I don't want to have the shot!

Doctor: Listen to me! It will only take a second and it won't hurt a bit!

Child: No! You're lying! All doctors lie about pain!

Doctor: Look! I'll even give myself the shot first!

_There was a brief silence. I assume he gave himself the shot but the door is closed so I can't be sure._

Doctor: See, I'm not crying! It didn't hurt one bit!

Child: O… okay..

Doctor: Now hold your arm still.

Child: …

Doctor: See! Was that so hard?

Child: I guess no—OW!

Doctor: Good work nurses.

_I began to hear the child start crying again._

Child: You—You didn't tell me I was getting a shot down there!

Doctor: Just doing my job. You even said yourself the doctors always lie about pain. Welcome to Caseadonia kid.

Child: *Cries*

_I got up out of bed. I figure I'll look for Dylan and Kai. I'm too awake to fall asleep now. As I began to walk through the doorway I heard a flush from the bathroom. The door began to open. It was Kai dressed in a black hooded sweater with blue pants._

K: You're awake? You wanna explain to me how I got here in the first place?

M: Fine fine, I'll tell you when we find someplace to eat. I'm starving.

_As we walked out of our hospital room, I saw the kid once again in the lobby. He was with his mother sitting in a chair speaking with the doctor. The Doctor is light skinned, tall, average weight and is in his white lab coat. The child is dark skinned with a white and yellow shirt and red pants. The mother is dark skinned, average height, chubby and wore a full blouse with purple floral designs._

Doctor: …were administered to him in the most effective way. If he complains of any pain or swelling please contact us back here at the hospital.

Mother: I can't guarantee I'll call if he whines to me about the pain, but if I see any redness I will call.

Child: Mommy! The doctor hurt me!

_The mother backhand slapped the child._

Mother: Man up nigga! Wait until your father gets through with you! Then you'll have something to cry about!

_I couldn't help but laugh a little as we walked out of the hospital doors. We walked around the dark city. I expected a city like this to be brightly lit up at this time of night, but everyone seems to be asleep._

**Kai's POV**

_Ugh… my brain is foggy. The last few days are all a blur to me. I remember signing up for the tournament and fighting. I remember even nearly dying on the floor of the arena. I wonder what it is that I missed in between. We walked towards a diner Mike picked out called "Pie Mucho Caliente." From my studies I knew the restaurant is called "very hot pie- err…. foot?" "Very hot foot? I never understood how Spanish restaurants could have the weirdest names but still sound right when you don't know what it means. I bet half the people who come here think it means "Very good pie" and then are disappointed to find out they don't sells pies here at all. We walked into the restaurant to see two men with fake mustaches at the door. One was short and skinny and the other was tall and fat. They wore colorful red and yellow suits that reminded me of a certain fag I know… They escorted us to a booth near a window and left as we both took a look at the menu. I order a steak and cheese burrito and Mike ordered… actually, I wasn't really paying attention when he was ordering. _

K: So what did I miss?

M: Not much actually. After the fight, you were injured. We rushed you to the hospital, you slept for an entire day and me and Dylan got free lunch.

K: Why didn't I get a free lunch? I fought in the same fight you were in!

M: Well first the doctors thought you were dead, than they thought you were in a coma and then they realized you were just resting when you started sleep talking.

K: Sleep talking about what?

M: It's nothing you wanna hear. I probably shouldn't have even mentioned it in the first place anyway.

K: Damn right you shouldn't have! Now I wanna know!

M: No, no… I'm sure you'll be fine with not knowing the kind of revealing things you say in your sleep.

K: ….you can't just say it….

M: So I should probably tell you that me and Dylan—

K: Don't change the subject! Tell me what—

_The waiters came and brought us our meals. I could hear the inside of my burrito sizzling as it was put on the table._

M: I was just saying that when you were asleep, me and Dylan heard you say—

K: Never mind that. Foods here. Don't care anymore. Eating.

**Dylan's POV**

_Here I sit tied to a chair, in what I assume is this woman's hotel room. _

D: Just who are you anyway? You've dragged me into your room and haven't even said why.

Woman: The name is Nel Zephyr. I am a mercenary and I have been hired to gather information. The idea isn't for anyone to get hurt. But if you pull stunts like you did outside, I can't guarantee you won't get hurt.

D: Who hired you and why do you need me?

Nel: That's not important. What I need to know is why you were hired. That is—what you intend to do after you complete your task.

D: Go back home maybe? I don't have anything really planned. I don't even live here!

Nel: Don't lie to me! I know you have your own agenda!


	15. Chapter 15

D: I really don't know what you're talking about!

Nel: You don't remember? You told me…years ago…

D: Told you what? I've suffered from amnesia; I can't remember my memories from years ago.

Nel: Two years ago… you said you would take revenge on them…

D: Who?

Nel: The **CoN**… y—you said they took away your family and your home. You told me you were forced to move here—to the island; you couldn't afford to live alone.

D: What else did I say?

Nel: I saw you on the street and questioned you as I gathered information about the island. I—I saw you on the street with several other homeless kids. You all were banding together in resistance to the **CoN. ** D: What happened?

Nel: You told me you wanted to overthrow Telthas—the northern city gold mine. At the time **CoN **had newly moved their resources to take control of the city. I had followed you; I thought perhaps you had a chance seeing as the forces of the **CoN** were very minor in that area. The aftermath was devastating. Violent riots, dead bodies everywhere, the whole event was… unfortunate. The saw many of your allies wiped out and almost you yourself…..

D: How? H—what happened? Did we stop them?

Nel: Unfortunately not. When I arrived your band was surrounded and there were very few of you all. I—I….

D: what?

Nel: I saved you all. I struck down the men surrounding you all and got you out of there. The sight was horrible…

**Kai's POV**

K: My lord…that's so nasty…

M: I think it's kinda cool.

K: I think you're bugging…

_I had just finished my meal when I say this..this…disgrace of a man across the table from me. He was showing off to his girlfriend when I saw him swallow a piece of chicken he cut. The worst thing about it is that it didn't go down his stomach like it does for normal people… It came out of his nose. His retard of a girlfriend was actually excited and kissed him after seeing his trick. "That's just gross…"_

_As Mikeru and I got up to leave, I saw our "fine fellow" George enter the restaurant._

G: Hello my young friends! I see that you're recovering well.

K: Yes, but If I stay around you much longer, I might be persuaded to give myself a concussion.

G: Listen you two, we need to talk.

M: About what?

G: I can't say around here. Come back to the hotel and I'll tell you all about it.

K: I don't think I want to stay in a room with you. You should find someone else; maybe a stripper!

**Dylan's POV**

D: My memories are no longer in my head. I can't remember any of this event's happenings.

Nel: I assure you this event did happen. It was violence I had not seen in a long time; it—it's something I couldn't forget even if I wanted to.

D: Do you remember anything else from that day? What happened to us after all that fighting?

Nel: I don't know. I don't normally involve myself with the dealings of others. My rescuing you and your group was a rare moment for me. After I helped you all escape, I left on my own.

D: What made that time special for you to rescue us?

Nel: …I had completed my mission; my saving you all was just—a reaction to all the fighting. I acted on instinct.

D: I—I don't k—

_I turn to hear the door knob opening. As the door opens, I begin to see Kai, Mikeru and George enter the room._

G: Ahh… I see I made it on time. I hope you did not start explaining the plan to him already, Nel?

Nel: No, but if you had taken any longer I would have.

M: Just what plan is this?

K: And why does it involve us?  
G: Boys, I'd like you to meet my step-daughter, Nel.

K: Step-daughter? You're married? And not gay?

G: Calm down little one. I was once indeed married; but that's all since changed in recent years. It all started when I was a lad. I had just inherited my family's money and was en—

Nel: A-hem?

G: Okay, I was a little of topic. To be direct, there is more than one reason I hired you all to compete in this tournament for me.

_In that moment, George voice grew a serious tone._

K: What would that be?  
G: The tournament does indeed award riches to the winners; however the only meaning the tournament has to me is testing your abilities.

D: why go through all this to test us? Why not hire anyone to do the task?

G: I want clients who are personally committed to my cause.

K: "Personally committed?"

G: To be frank, I wanted people who I knew wouldn't back down from the task.

K: Get to the point, just what is it you want us to do?

G: The city Telthas—the mines; I want to relinquish the **CoN** control over the area and restore it to the people.

K: Telthas? I heard that city is one their central control points on the island.

Nel: That it is. The reason they wanted this location in the first place was for its plentiful natural resources and strategic placement on the island.

G: Years ago, Nel told me of the destruction your friend Dylan experienced in that city. The chaos those awful people have brought us is too much. They must be stopped.

K: So you want our help in stopping their forces in telthas… Just what do you have planned?

G: I want a strong but small invasion group. You all in this room are capable of meeting those needs. My plan is to have all of you come together to siege control of the main **CoN** control center in Telthas. I want the people of that city free from control! I want that building burned down!


	16. Chapter 16

**Day 13 – Aquabiosis**

**Kai's POV**

_The clock in our room just hit 12. While George (whore-hey) was trying to explain to us his plan and our involvement, I was trying to figure out the basis in which his plan would work. Transportation, medical care, food and shelter would be issues in my mind._

K: So in terms of finance in this plan, how would we go about getting there, and having food and shelter before we go to take control of Telthas?

G: what? Why my fine fellow that be one of the stupidest questions I've ever been asked!

K: Say wha….

M: Well Kai, he's rich…remember?

K: ….

G: Don't worry about all the small details right now, Nel will be working with you all to get you there and back.

D: Speaking of which, where is she?

_At that moment, Nel appeared at the door out of nowhere._

N: Time to get out of here, **CoN** is on to us!

K: What do you mean?

N: Several men are outside waiting to come in and get us. We must leave now!

_We all ran outside the hotel room and out of the main door. When we got there, there were 20 maybe 30 men waiting for us. Outside the door and on the floor, I saw something inscribed into the ground. It looked like a square and at each side of the square was a different mark for each element. _

N: Hold these men off a while. In five minutes I will call for you all to come back and meet me here. From then I will be able to get us out of here.

_The fight began when I saw a few of the fire benders shoot large plumes of flames towards us. Mikeru charged in with his ice fists and one-two punched one in the stomach. An earth bender tried to throw a large rock at him but he punched through it. Mike then grabbed the man's face and slammed it into the dirt. Dylan took a large mound of earth and began to turn it into sand. He then bent the sand towards a fire bender. The fire bender tried to burn the sand but the sand soaked up the fire. A few seconds later the man was covered in sand. I began to see Dylan close his fist and the mound of sand began to close in on the man until he was no more. I bent water towards a fire bender who in turn shot fire towards my water resulting in a thick steam. I bent water into sharp icicles and sent them into the dense steam. When the steam cleared up, the man's body and right eye were covered in icicles. Another fire bender shot fire at me and caught me off guard. Before the fire hit me, a large mound of sand was in front of me and absorbed the fire. I then saw Mikeru punch the man in the back and into the sand that collapsed onto him._

N: Alright guys, come back and we can get out of here!

_As we ran back to the large square, Nel began to put her right hand onto the ground. We were surrounded by flames and Nel began to say something that I couldn't understand. I don't think it was English but after I heard the chant she was saying the flames died down and we were back at the Mikeru Market fountain. _

M: We're back?

K: How did you do that?

N: It is a long ago used technique that I learned from my grandfather. Even if you all wanted to learn it, I could not teach it to you.

K: So George, what about the tournament?

G: Pfft… Who cares about the tournament? I'm already the richest man on the island! I only used the tournament to make sure you would all be strong enough to handle what's in store for us.

K: Well we didn't finish what we were talking about. So, how are we going to do this?

D: Before you explain that, I'm just going to go on ahead home. You can tell me about it later.

M: Me too. I'm gonna head back.

_As they walked away I saw Dylan trip over a branch and Mike start laughing._

K: You were saying? *Chuckle*

G: In terms of transportation, Nel would be more than happy to assist you with that and manpower.

K: Manpower?

G: I'll explain in a moment. Besides that, we will leave in the morning at 11am. We will meet in the local town of Bale. From there we will move to Telthas and be able to exact our plan more efficiently. Any other questions?

K: Where do you buy such colorful clothing?

G: No more questions! Now Nel here will help you with your other issues. Good night my young fellow! Hopefully when your older I will marry you off to my step daughter. Or maybe have a son and marry you off to him?

K: GOOD NIGHT ALREADY!

N: Do you remember I said that I couldn't teach you the technique I just used to get us here?

K: Yes. Does this mean you're gonna teach me that technique?

N: Nope.

K: What?

N: I already told you I couldn't teach you my grandfather's technique. I can however teach you a different technique that will solve your issues of transport and power?

K: What do you mean "Issue of power?" You haven't been around to watch me fight all that much.

N: Well that's what you think. I was around for your tournament matches; I was around during your fight here at the fountain plaza. I was even around when you fought against **CoN **with your sister.

K: You, you know about that day? What happened, what happened to my sister? And why didn't you save her.

N: That night that you fought with them, I watched you fight to defend your home. It was a long time before then that I saw anyone try to fight against **CoN.**


	17. Chapter 17

N: As you fought, I saw you go down and become unconscious. I was going to step in and help, but one of their water benders saw me and froze everything except my head. She dragged me in the opposite direction towards the plaza where they often meet at night. When I got there, I managed to breathe some fire to free my hands and then bent fire to free my legs.

K: So you're a fire bender?

N: I am. I try not to rely on it because I've been trained in many other schools of fighting. Fire bending I try to only use for biosis which I will explain to you in a moment.

N: Continuing from where I left off, I managed to disappear using my biosis and make my way back to your home. By the time I got there, you and your sister were on the floor. I first tended to your wounds. If not for my immediate medical attention, you may have died that night. I went to heal your sister but it was no good. There was internal bleeding and wounds were mortal. I—I did the best I could…

K: It's okay…If what you say is true; I owe you my life for saving me. But why have you been watching me and my group all this time?

N: Like I said earlier, you were the first case of retaliation against **CoN** that I had seen in a long time. My step father and I were looking for allies. When I told him of your battle against them, he told me to keep an eye on you. Ever since then, we were watching you grow stronger until we finally decided it was time to ask for your aid. We didn't think you would refuse. We watched you gather allies as well and thought you could use help as well.

K: I promise I will help in any way I can. I already owe you my life and I don't think you all would just magically dream up a story like that.

N: That's good to hear. Now let me tell you about the reason I actually wanted you here. The "Manpower" situation my step father spoke of.

K: hmm?

N: After watching you fight for this long, we have noticed your lack of power. While it is true you heal and keep everyone else alive, you also need to be able to keep yourself alive as well. In Telthas, things won't be easy. We'll need as much as we can get.

K: I see. So are you planning to teach me something new?

N: In a way, yes. Hold out your dominant hand.

K: That would be my right.

_At that moment, Nel pulled out a blue water droplet which appeared to be made of stone._

K: What's that?

N: A biosis stone. Specifically aquabiosis.

K: Aquabiosis?

N: Only a few benders can manage the power of a biosis stone. After watching you for so long, we know you can handle its power.

K: So what does it do?

N: What does it do? Well… I can't really think of what it doesn't do. It has different effects in every bender and grants you different abilities at different stages of power. In me, my pyrobiosis stone allowed me at the first stage of my power to turn invisible. But the easiest way to find out is just to try it out.

K: Okay, so I have it in my hand. Now what?

N: Just watch.

_After a few seconds, the biosis stone became intangible and sunk into the center of my palm. Then, in the center of my palm was the water droplet shaped stone and around it were 7 small spheres surrounding it. One of those spheres were shaded in._

K: Wha—What's going on?

N: The biosis stone just fused into your body, which is a good thing. The stone didn't reject you and accepted you as its bearer.

K: I still don't know what it does though.

N: In a few seconds you should find out. After you receive an ability, the ability should automatically show itself.

_Seconds later, water began to surround my body. I felt the water pushing my body down into a different form. The water then began to solidify and then crystallize. Although I couldn't really tell what had happened, I saw that I had claws._

K: I have claws?

N: Hey! You can talk too! Not everyone can talk while in animal form.

K: Animal form?

N: You seem to have turned into an aquamarine crystal tiger! That's one of the better transformations too! Strong fangs, powerful claws, and fast legs too. Your're even big enough to carry people on your back.

K:So biosis makes me turn into an animal?

N: Yes and no. It will give you several different abilities later on. Animal form just happened to be the first ability it wanted to give you. I only got my animal form and stage four of my pyrobiosis. See, look at my hand.

_In the center of her palm there was a flame and five of the seven spheres in her hand were shaded in._

N: The biosis stone will give you new power when it feels you are strong enough to manage the new abilities. Biosis uses the body's pure energy in the form of ATP. In other words, if you overuse the power to much before you have become experienced in using over long periods of time. You will become very weak and tired.

K: Is there anything else I should be aware of?

N: Yes, because biosis uses the body's direct ATP, you should be able to manipulate electricity. Although I wouldn't say you would be able to manage using in more than one or two times in the same day. You should be able to run home in that form and get there much faster. If you have any more questions, ask me tomorrow.

K: Thanks, I will.

_Nel drew another square on the ground and placed her hand on the floor. She was surrounded in flames and then disappeared._


	18. Chapter 18

**Mikeru's POV **

Mike: Nah, nah, nah, get that shit outta here.

Dylan: It can't stay even one more day?

Mike: Do you smell it? If you don't there's something wrong with you.

Dylan: But that's the smell of delicious life.

Mike: When life becomes a box of rotten cheese, then I'll agree with you. But this, right here, is my house!

Dylan: At least feed it to Frost…

Mike: And kill the poor wolf with that poison? …ain't happening

Dylan: But the…

_There's a banging on the door._

Dylan: I'll get it.

_Dylan stood at the door for about 2 minutes as if he were waiting for something to happen._

Mike: Well...? Who is it?

Dylan: Umm… Did Frost have babies?

Mike: What's that supposed to mean?

Dylan: I see a tiger with a crystal body and I'm not exactly sure if what I'm seeing is even…

Kai: It's Kai genius, you know…the only person out of the house?

Dylan: Oh Kai didn't see you there. How are you a tiger?

Kai: Was that supposed to be a height joke…?

Dylan: I'm just ya know, stating the obvious.

Kai: …Either way, Nel taught me how to transform with some weird stone. I don't entirely understand it yet, but supposedly I should get stronger if I fight more.

_Dylan finally let Kai in as he transformed back into a human._

Mike: Isn't that what should happen when you fight a lot?

Kai: …I know you know what I mean….

Mike: *Laughs*

Kai: *whispers* ugh… I'm going to sleep…

_As Kai walked up the stairs, I watched Dylan try to follow him._

Mike: Whoa Dylan get your ass back here and get throw away these god damn cheese crackers!

Dylan: *laugh* alright…

**Day 14 – Prep**

_It's about nine o'clock. I started putting wood in the fireplace and lit the fire for my Hyena ribs. Everything was quiet and all until I heard a knock on my door followed by an explosion._

Mike: What the fuck…

_I open my door and walk outside. There I see Nel, George, and Frost is on his side tied up in chains._

George: That's quite a strong fellow of a wolf. He nearly blew my socks off!

Nel: Sorry about your pet. When we showed up he shot a blast of ice at us and I had to do something to stop him.

_I hear the front door open as Dylan and Kai walk onto the porch._

Kai: What the hell is going on here?

Dylan: Was that the tasty explosion of the cheese crackers I threw out? Don't tell me that was the special box!

Nel: We would probably be better off talking inside. Let me untie your wolf.

**Kai's POV**

_As the fire died down and we finished our breakfast, I could still smell the scent of Hyena ribs around the kitchen. We sat around Mikeru's circular table as Nel began to explain._

Nel: As we spoke about before, our goal is to siege Telthas back from **CoN. **We will be heading southwest towards Erove—The small city near the lake. This place is ideal for us because it is close to Telthas and my step father controls the economy in this area. If there aren't any more questions, we should get moving now.

Dylan: I've got one. How come we don't just teleport to Telthas?

Nel: You probably don't remember but last time I teleported you all, five minutes before that I asked that you hold off **CoN** that were attacking us. Reason for that is because I need at least five minutes to inscribe my teleportation glyph into the floor and make it a reasonable enough size to teleport each person. Long story short, If I've never been somewhere, I can't teleport you there.

Kai: Then how are we getting there then?

Nel: Don't you remember Kai? I handled that yesterday. They'll have to ride on your back in tiger form.

Kai: You can't be serious…I'm going to smell like nasty cheese crackers for days with this guy eating on my back.

Nel: We don't have any alternative. My burning panther form can only carry one person.

Kai: …

Nel: Now then if there are no other questions, we should really get a move on. This trip will take 30 minutes give or take.

_We all walked outside. I saw Nel transform into a fiery panther and for some reason the flames were not hurting George. I transformed into the crystal tiger and was easily able to bear Dylan and Mike's combined weight. We headed southwest on this windy day and I nearly stepped on a few snakes. I decided this would be a good time to ask about something from a few days ago._

Kai: Hey Mike, I saw this book on your shelf…

Mike: Hmm…?

Kai: I saw in this book how you were descended from royalty and your Ancestors—

Mike: Invented water bending? Yes I know all about it.

Kai: How did all of this happen? I mean…how are you not being treated as royalty now?

Mike: *sigh*… It's a long story. My now deceased father as you already know, helped to form rebirth isle and the market near my house. His intentions were not of aiding the people but of getting the **CoN** to notice him. He figured if they saw his wealth, they would exalt him and would increase his control over this isle. His motive was because with our home nation of the northern water tribe in ruins, he lost his luxuries over there. He figured if the people favored him on this isle, they would never doubt him and would follow whole-heartedly. When he reached the age of 40, all his wealth was to be given to me as heir. He however, was able to get away with my fortune after the meteor shower occurred. Our home—our large ice palace was hit by meteors and sank into the ice water. For weeks no one could find me, and after a long time I was presumed dead. They were however, completely wrong…


End file.
